‘Like Suicide’: the Soundgarden song inspired by the death of a robin
Music is an art form that follows us around in our everyday lives, which is why we connect with it so regularly. When you hear a Soundgarden song that has a profound impact on you, it’s not just the song itself but what it acknowledges and the feelings it brings to the surface that you otherwise might have suppressed. This is why it remains such an important creative outlet.
Chris Cornell and Soundgarden have never been worried about putting various emotions at the heart of their songs. This meant that when people listened to their lyrics, they were often looking for what the deep meaning behind them could be. Sometimes, people were right to look for a hidden meaning, but there were other instances when that behind their songs was widely misinterpreted.
On their 1994 album Superunknown, Chris Cornell made a conscious effort to become a better lyricist. This meant that people had more lyrics to read and expected them to have some kind of hidden message. This first happened on their biggest single to date, ‘Black Hole Sun,’ which was inspired by a term that Cornell heard on the news.
The band’s guitarist, Kim Thayil, said that he saw a notable change in the way people perceived the band when Cornell started acting more like a traditional singer/songwriter. This became evident with ‘Black Hole Sun’, as more people were listening and talking about the song.
“We’d had singles before. But that was easily our biggest hit. That was more singer/songwriterish,” said Thayil, “Chris went that direction of singer/songwriter guy, and the band was more accepting because of the success of singer/songwriting stuff as opposed to more guitar oriented rock. It was more vocal accompaniment rock, some guitar. So we started utilizing a little bit more of that.”
Another song on the album that Cornell took a songwriter approach to was the track ‘Like Suicide’. With such a provocative title, everyone thought that the song would be about depression, suicide and everyday struggles embedded within the human mind; however, it was about something else entirely.
“‘Like Suicide’ was specific once I wrote out the lyrics,” said Cornell. “I was writing the music to that in my basement when I heard this loud thump from above. I thought someone was trying to break in, so I was going up the stairs to investigate when I heard it again – a loud THUMP!”
When Cornell got to the door, he had a sad realisation when he saw what was causing the thud. It wasn’t someone trying to break into the house, but a small bird that had accidentally flown into it.
Concluding, “When I got to the door, there was this beautiful female robin writhing on the ground. She’d broken her neck flying into the window. It was obviously broken, flipped back, but she was still breathing. So I went and found this cinder block and smashed her head with it. Then I went back downstairs, and with the title of that song in mind, I just wrote about the incident. It seemed opportune – someone, or someone else’s misery, can often be a great opportunity for a song.”
